CBCP official urges govt to ban One Direction

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has urged the government to ban the English-Irish boy band One Direction, who the CBCP feared may poison the minds of Filipino youths after a video of its two members smoking marijuana has spread online.

Fr. Conegundo Garganta, executive secretary of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on the Youth said parents should not allow their children to watch the One Direction concert in the Philippines because the band was not a good influence on the youth.

“Do not lead [the youth in]the wrong direction,” Garganta said in a weekly forum in Intramuros, Manila.

He pointed out that the administration could use its power and authority “if it truly cares for his people.”

“Why admit poisonous influences? There is enough poison in our society,” he said. One Direction, which is set to do a concert in the Philippines in March 2015, is based in London.

The members of the group are Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.

A five-minute video footage of Malik and Tomlinson sharing marijuana while travelling in Peru has gone viral.

Garganta considered this issue as a “challenge to the sense of culture” of Filipinos.

The priest believed a study is needed to determine why parents and children idolize One Direction. He said the youth should not also idolize drug-dependent band groups.

“Parents should stop their children from buying the expensive concert tickets of [drug addicts],” he said.